Inleiding

The Apple Pro Speakers (made by harman kardon) are a great piece of technology. They were specially designed for the iMac G4 and the Power Mac G4 MDD (mirrored door drives) series. Those computers had a special connector which supplied both – an audio signal and power – to the speakers.

There are some guides which explain how to connect the speakers using a 3.5 mm jack, but this will never be a real solution as these speakers need to be driven by a real amp – and not the line-out of a computer or other audio device.

As Griffin iFire converters are expensive and hard to get, this guide relies on a class-d amp, which means that you can revive the speakers for about 40 US dollars.

This image shows the complete setup with which you will end up. With a little bit of work you can soon enjoy the clear sound of true harman kardon speakers.

Please note: This guide will destroy the original cable/connector which is used to connect the Apple Pro Speakers to an iMac, Power Mac or the Griffin iFire.

Please also note that – as with every electronical repair or modification guide – you alone are responsible for your own health and the health of others. Also be aware that you alone are responsible for any damaged electronic equipment.

Voeg opmerking toe

Now connect one wire to the negative terminal (-) and the other to the positive terminal (+) of the AA battery.

If the speaker cone bulges out (left image), you've got the proper polarity. You now know that the wire on the positive terminal of the AA battery is your "+" wire, i.e. it will connect with the "+" output of your amp.

If the speaker cone moves in (right image), the polarity is reversed. You now know that the wire on the negative terminal of the AA battery would be your "+" wire, i.e. it will connect with the "+" output of your amp.

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Now solder an extension cable to each of the stripped wires. If you want you can use a red wire for positive (+) and a black wire for negative (-) so you can easily connect the speakers with the amp later.

I just did this successfully, thanks for the writeup. :) For the record, these were the wire colors and polarities on the set I had:

Left speaker: Blue = negative, white = positive

Right speaker: Brown = negative, yellow = positive

But who knows whether that's consistent? Anyway I reinforced the connections with a combination of heat shrink tubing and Sugru, since the wires are so teensy, and got the exact amp used here from eBay for about $25. Nice to give these speakers a new lease on life. :)

I have these speakers, plus the subwoofer designed to work with them. It attaches directly to the computer via USB cable and has its own power brick. Will I be able to use the subwoofer with these speakers after completing the project above?

This will most likely not work, as the USB Subwoofer has to be supported by your operating system. As far as I remember Apple stopped support for those USB subwoofers a long time ago and in addition to that they were only supported on few computers (like the second generation iMacs). Even if it would work, you'd have two separate volumes – one for the subwoofer and one on the Pro Speakers amp. It's a pity. Long ago I had an iMac "snow" in combination with this USB iSub and it sounded terrfic. What you could do is to disassemble the sub and connect the speaker directly with the amp where you also hook up the Pro Speakers, but this requires a little bit more technical insight and I would not recommend to do it.

This completely worked for me. I used a Muse Audio M20 EX2 TA2020, which I ordered through Amazon (it shipped from China). The wire colors were the same for me as mentioned earlier: Left speaker: Blue = negative, white = positive, Right speaker: Brown = negative, yellow = positive. I've been holding onto these speakers for a long time, hoping there would be a way to use them again. Thanks for the guide, and for everyone's comments!

Your project has made me think of a more ambitious project since I have not used these beautiful speakers also the first Soundsticks and Subwoofer .

Is it possible that there is a type of amplifier that would connect the pair of Apple Pro Speakers (4 inputs) , Soundsticks another pair of Harman / Kardon (4 more inputs) and also Subwoofer Harman / Kardon (1 more input) . In all 5 pairs of inputs.

If so, can you tell me what kind of amplifier would be.

I hope you can help me and tell me whether to start , you think appropriate the project.

I like the description given of how to connect the speakers to a small amp, and despite my extreme novice status, I think I can pull this off. One thing I'm not clear on, however, is the means by which to connect the amp to the source. (In my case, it'll be a Mid-2010 iMac.) Is this so simple it simply isn't mentioned? Help appreciated, as always. Thanks.

I've been storing these little speakers of mine for a decade, on the verge of throwing them away because I figured they were probably useless. This thread gives me hope that I can use these again!

I'm pretty good with electronics, but don't know what a class D or class T amp is exactly. Trying to figure out what to buy in Sweden that might work. Does this seem like the right kind of thing? https://www.kjell.com/se/sortiment/el-ve...

SO needed this as I was not prepared to give up on these speakers and wasn’t going to shell out ten times what they cost me for the Griffin iFire.

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About the speaker wire polarity and for future reference- one speaker has one blue and one white wire- the white one is the positive. The other speaker has one brown and one yellow with the yellow being the positive. Basically the paler ones are positives, the darker in the pair- negatives. You can see the pairs your set have at the back of the speakers due to the casings being clear.

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And I actually repurposed the single cable (the one post “white knob” with the plug) by cutting it in half and then isolating the redundant wires (red and black for power on both and either the blue/white set or the brown/yellow sets, depending on which speaker I was working on. This resulted in only the blue/white or the brown/yellow pair being matched all the way to the new plug ends. ;)

SO needed this as I was not prepared to give up on these speakers and wasn’t going to shell out ten times what they cost me for the Griffin iFire.

*

About the speaker wire polarity and for future reference- one speaker has one blue and one white wire- the white one is the positive. The other speaker has one brown and one yellow with the yellow being the positive. Basically the paler ones are positives, the darker in the pair- negatives. You can see the pairs your set have at the back of the speakers due to the casings being clear.

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And I actually repurposed the single cable (the one post “white knob” with the plug) by cutting it in half and then isolating the redundant wires (red and black for power on both and either the blue/white set or the brown/yellow sets, depending on which speaker I was working on. This resulted in only the blue/white or the brown/yellow pair being matched all the way to the new plug ends. ;)

SO needed this as I was not prepared to give up on these speakers and wasn’t going to shell out ten times what they cost me for the adaptor (which shall remain nameless).

*

About the speaker wire polarity and for future reference- one speaker has one blue and one white wire- the white one is the positive. The other speaker has one brown and one yellow with the yellow being the positive. Basically the paler ones are positives, the darker in the pair- negatives. You can see the pairs your set have at the back of the speakers due to the casings being clear.

*

And I actually repurposed the single cable (the one post “white knob” with the plug) by cutting it in half and then isolating the redundant wires (red and black for power on both and either the blue/white set or the brown/yellow sets, depending on which speaker I was working on. This resulted in only the blue/white or the brown/yellow pair being matched all the way to the new plug ends. Perfect for someone as OCD as I am.